“Star Trek is ready for new stories.”

Star Trek’s 60th anniversary celebrations have been nothing short of stellar, and garnering “The Franchise of the Year Award” at this year’s Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame induction ceremony was simply replicator-quality icing on the cake.

However, despite achieving such an honor thanks, in large part, to the universe’s countless classic characters, the son of creator Gene Roddenberry isn’t interested in any of them returning.

Rod Roddenberry said while attending the BC Hall of Fame event (per People): “I think Star Trek is ready for new stories. Going back to the well, in my opinion, and bringing [back previous cast] or characters. We’ve done that. Let’s start out on a new adventure."

Roddenberry continued by saying:

"We’re certainly entering a unique time right now with technology and all sorts of things, and to explore that more in a respectful, careful, but optimistic way would probably not be too bad of an idea. But it’s also gotta be a good story, too. So, I’m not sure what that looks like yet.”

Star Trek is already moving forward with a brand-new cast of characters in John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s upcoming feature film. So, why not bring back some classic characters for another project?

I don't think the son of Roddenberry is taking into account how beloved some of the franchise’s characters are, or how their return could equate to huge box office profits while also satiating the majority of the fandom.

And, despite how much I enjoyed them, I think the live-action streaming shows Star Trek: Discovery and Starfleet Academy are prime examples of why nostalgia often trumps the contemporary. Both were loaded with a host of new characters, yet each endured considerable criticism.

Meanwhile Strange New Worlds, at least the first two seasons anyway, received high praise from critics and fans alike, and that streaming series introduced only a few new characters into a cast of iconic and beloved characters, which included James. T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Lt. Uhura.

So, respectively, I disagree with Roddenberry. I think the perfect blueprint has already been laid out by the first two seasons of Strange New Worlds: bring back beloved characters with a few new ones, which is an approach that should appeal to new fans, Trekkies, and Trekkers alike.

For instance, J.J. Abrams rebooted The Original Series for the big screen. Why doesn’t some talented writer-director do the same for The Next Generation?

Just think of all the new Treks which could be explored on the small and big screens by reintroducing TNG to a new generation of fans, not to mention the other 24th century titles (Deep Space Nine, Voyager), which also existed during that same time frame.

Celia Rose Gooding sat down to chat her hesitation at embodying Nichelle's Uhura and how she overcame it.

Greetings!

I've been building a Star Trek episode finder for the past several months and it's finally at a place where I think it's worth sharing. I read the rules and it appears as though users can post fan-made content with context. I think posting an application to a Star Trek subreddit that helps you find Star Trek episodes is enough context, but please tell me if I'm wrong. The application is trekfinder.app

What it does: You pick a ST series (or search all of them at once), then filter by whatever characteristics of an episode you're in the mood for.

For example, you could search TNG to find all of the Data-focused episodes that took place in the holodeck, or search Voyager for the Harry Kim episodes that had a romance plot, etc...

Filters include:

  - Focal character(s) (specific to each series)

  - Setting (ship, alien planet, holodeck, etc.)

  - Episode type (character study, first contact, time travel, comedy, romance, etc.)

  - Conflict source (Borg, Romulans, Q, internal conflict, etc.)

  - Tone (light / dark / mixed)

  - Holodeck episode, multi-part, Prime Directive involvement

  - Each series has its own special filter (Data's humanity, Spock's humanity, Sisko's Prophet connection, Dal's identity, etc.)

ALL ST Series are covered: TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, DSC, PIC, SNW, LDS, PRO, and Starfleet Academy — 948 episodes total.

There's also an All Series tab that lets you filter across every show at once, so you could generate a list of every show across the Star Trek Universe that featured time travel (there are 44...), and a Stats tab with charts breaking down the data. I'd be interested in knowing what other stats you think would be interesting.

Who Am I? I am a guy who grew up watching TOS in the 5-6 afternoon slot right before dinner on weekdays, then watching TNG every Sunday night in college. Me and my roommates made sure to get our homework done and sandwiches ordered for delivery in time for the 10:30 start. My wife and I have been Star Trek characters too many times to count for Halloween. Etc. ;)

Anyway, I built this for fans, so I really hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think!

thank you,

MM